‘I’m still playing my 1984 guitar on Oasis tour’

Oasis guitarist and co-founder Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs has revealed that he has been using his “original 1984 guitar” on the band’s 2025 reunion tour.

Arthurs joined Liam and Noel Gallagher for many of their Oasis Live ’25 dates, before pausing his involvement in the tour to have treatment for prostate cancer.

Speaking as guitar manufacturer Epiphone launched a special Bonehead edition, he said his guitar predated Oasis and had been used “from the early rehearsals at the Boardwalk in Manchester all the way up to those historic shows at Knebworth and on into Liam’s solo career”.

“I’m still playing my original 1984 guitar on the Oasis 2025 tour, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

Announcing his cancer diagnosis on 3 October, Arthurs said he was “having to take a planned break for the next phase of my care” and would be “back ready to go in time for South America”.

The band recently completed dates in Australia and are due to start the South American leg of their comeback tour in Argentina on 15 November before moving on to dates in Chile and Brazil.

Arthurs started his first band in 1984 and in the late 1980s, he came together with Tony McCarroll and Paul ‘Guigsy’ McGuigan to form the band Rain.

The trio sacked their original frontman and replaced him with Liam Gallagher, who suggested a name change to Oasis.

Noel Gallagher joined the band shortly after and the five-piece would soon be on their way to global fame.

Alongside many memorable shows with Oasis, Arthurs also used the guitar on the band’s huge debut album Definitely Maybe and its follow-up (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?.

A spokeswoman for the guitar brand said they had produced a Bonehead Riviera model because “very few artists embody the Epiphone ‘For Every Stage’ mantra more than Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs”.

“From early Oasis shows at The Water Rats in London to their era-defining nights at Knebworth, Bonehead consistently pushed his Epiphone Riviera to the limits.

“The crowds may have grown, but the wall of sound was always there in front of them.

“His solid, driving guitar work played a crucial role in shaping the band’s early sound, and his most iconic instrument was the 1984 Epiphone Riviera.”

The manufacturer has also launched a special edition of its Sheraton model with fellow Oasis guitarist Gem Archer.

Archer replaced Arthurs in the band in 1999 and played on their three final albums, before playing with both of the Gallagher brothers’ post-Oasis bands, Beady Eye and High Flying Birds.

“The Epiphone Sheraton first came into my world when I borrowed Noel’s for Oasis tours and recording,” he said.

“When I started playing with him again in the High Flying Birds in 2017, this was the guitar I asked if he still had.

“I’m playing it again together with my signature model based on his ’66 original, on the Oasis Live ’25 tour.”